


Three Day Shift

by jenefur



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Based on augustbird's "Our Golden Age", F/F, Gen, Hospital Setting, alternate perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-01-22
Packaged: 2018-03-08 15:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3214745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenefur/pseuds/jenefur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘If I leave in twelve minutes, I can beat the morning traffic. Light breakfast, nothing heavy, keep carbs low. Machine on the fourth floor should be fixed by now, can probably grab something-’</p><p>“Did you sleep last night?” </p><p>-<br/>A one-shot based off augustbird's "Our Golden Age" AU, chapter 13: Timeline: awol. The events of Steve's hospital stay and its effect as told from the perspective of a nurse working there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Day Shift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [augustbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/augustbird/gifts).
  * Inspired by [our golden age](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1580042) by [augustbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/augustbird/pseuds/augustbird). 



Day 1- _12 Hour Shift_

_4:50 am_

_‘If I leave in twelve minutes, I can beat the morning traffic. Light breakfast, nothing heavy, keep carbs low. Machine on the fourth floor should be fixed by now, can probably grab something-’_

“Did you sleep last night?” 

It’s a quiet murmur, coming from the bed. It’s still dark out, with just the city lights reflecting into the small window of the bedroom. She keeps moving, despite the sound.

Arms adjust in her jacket, hand busy in her hair.

_‘ Shift today, 12 hour block. Also covering for an extra hour for Jackson tonight. Could probably eat around 1, depending on who else is working-’_

“Monica, did you sleep last night?” The voice is still light, bleary with sleep. 

She turns slightly and looks to see Rachel staring at her from the bed, head still on her pillow, arms still tucked in the sheets. 

She turns her head and leans down to tie her shoes.

_‘ Need to leave in 10 minutes to beat traffic. New rounds schedule being brought in today, make sure to check in with Griffon to see the charting schedule-‘_

“Monica.” Rachel’s voice is sterner now and when she turns to look, Rachel is sitting up. 

The sun is still down. She can barely make out Rachel’s face.

“I napped yesterday,” Monica says, hands adjusting her pants, “I’m not tired.”

“You’re working back to back shifts. A nap isn’t going to be enough.” 

_‘Need to leave in 8 minutes or I’m going to hit traffic-'_

“Monica.” It comes out more as a bark then a voice. 

Monica lifts her arms over her head, than puts her hands in her pocket.

Phone. Keys. ID. 

She walks over the Rachel, leans down slightly to look at her face. Despite the darkness, she can make out the slight pout on Rachel’s lips. 

_‘I need to leave in 5 minutes, or I’m going to hit traffic.’_

She reaches out and cups Rachel’s face, pecking her lightly on the lips.

“You need to sleep” Rachel murmurs gently against her lips. 

“And you should be sleeping now,” she answers in reply, pulling away. 

She walks towards the door, hands fiddling around in her pockets. 

Phone. Keys. ID.

She turns back and Rachel is snuggled back in the bed, buried in the sheets. Its still dark out, but she can feel Rachel’s eyes looking at her face.

“I’ll be back when my shifts done. Have fun at work. Ill call you during my break.”

She turns away and leaves the room.

She arrives at work with 4 minutes to spare. 

_7:20 am_

_‘Patient Name: Johnson, Caleb. Room: R53. Arrival: 5:20am. Patient Complaining of intense burn in lower intestine region. No sign of redness or irritation visible on the body. May be in need of CT scan. Confirm with Doctor Madden-“_

“This is fucking bullshit.”

“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, Connors, but this what is going to be happening. “

_‘Patient also complaining of lower leg pain from a previous incident. May need to undergo further physical exams. Check his medical chart for any other medication he may be taking-“_

“This is a very sensitive situation and we need to be delicate about this. Now I understand why you may be reluctant to do so, but all staff present needs to sign the form. That includes all nursing staff working earlier today. And that includes you.”

“I don’t understand why I, or any of us, for that matter, need to sign a confidentiality form. I haven’t seen him. Half of us didn’t even know he was here. I don’t think that I need to sign something, stating that I can’t talk about someone who I didn’t even know was in the building.” 

_‘I’ll get a lunch break in 4 hours. Probably could finish his paper work by then. Probably could grab something from the machine-“_

“Look, I get that. I get it. But this isn’t just some pop sensation or movie star. This is the crown prince. And you know his people are going to expect our discretion.”

__

There’s a rustle besides her as Connors angrily shifts from side to side, a disgruntled gust of air leaving his body.

“We shouldn’t have to sign anything. They don’t even have any power, shouldn’t get to make us sign whatever they what. Don’t you think, Hermosa?”

Monica straightens up, rotating her shoulders back. 

She thinks she needs to get back to her patient. She thinks she needs to see Doctor Madden. She thinks she’ll get a granola bar from the vending machine downstairs. And she thinks she’ll call Rachel afterwards.

She thinks this is a waste of time.

“I think it’s early and you need coffee,” She says instead, stretching her arms out in front of her. 

4 more hours until lunch break. 

She puts her arms down and turns to Connors.

“Just sign the damn form.”

_7:30 pm_

“Just a mad house at your work today huh?”

The TV in the living room is on. Every channel is airing the same thing.

“Must be exciting, having someone famous at the hospital.”

“Mm.” Monica says, shoulders shrugging slightly. She flips the channel to CNN. A panel of reporters is sitting at a long desk, all-talking wildly. A photo of Prince James is silhouetted on the big screen behind them.  


“Have you seen him at all?”

 _‘I didn’t even know he was there,’_ she thinks, hiking the volume on the TV a bit. 

The panelist on television gab wildly, each raising their voice higher, over each other, all trying to get their point heard.

It just sounds like noise.

“I’m not supposed to talk about it. They made me sign a form.”

“Oh fancy. Must be nice, being so famous you can just get people to sign away their voices.”

Amongst the badgering of the panelist, a blonde woman’s voice calls out over everyone else.

“This just shows a complete and utter lack of responsibility! He is acting on completely selfish impulses and that behavior cannot be tolerated! This is the clear action of a spoiled Prince who feels like he can just do whatever he wants! Prince James needs to be taught a lesson: this is not just about him. And the full extent of the law needs to applied for that message to get across.”

The voice sinks back in the chatter as the other panelist all rise up at once, speaking louder and louder, fielding in their rebuttals and cries of support.

Above the noise, Monica can hear Rachel fiddling around with something in the kitchen. 

It’s a quiet sound, light and dainty. 

Despite the collection of yelling on the screen, she can still hear it: a soft, quiet sound.

“I’m thinking about cutting off my hair. I might want to go shorter. Maybe even a bob? What do you think?”

Monica picks up the remote and lowers the volume on the television. At the lower volume, the collection of voices sounds even less like coherent thoughts and more like reasonless noise.

“Mm,” she shrugs, making her way to where Rachel is in the kitchen. The kitchen is bare, with hardly any appliances, or decorations. 

She comes behind Rachel, puts her arm around her waist and rests her head on her shoulder.  
Rachel’s hand comes up and caresses her face lightly.

“Are you going to sleep tonight?” Rachel hand rubs gently against her cheek. Her fingers feel cold against her face. 

“I’m not tired,” Monica says, snuggling a bit closer, brushing her lips against her neck. 

“You got another 12 hour shift tomorrow and a 8 hour shift after that. You need to sleep.” Though her tone is harsh, her hand stays gentle on her face.

“Mm.” Monica murmurs lightly, looking up to see the television screen. The collection of voices is still chattering on as a large photo of Prince James flashes on screen.

Beside his photo is a list of every girlfriend he’s had in the last 5 years.

“I need less sleep then you” Monica says as she holds Rachel tighter, listening as her quiet sounds echo over the collection of noise from the television.

-

Day Two- _12 hour shift_

_1:30pm_

_‘Patient name: Lemon, Teresa. Room: R23, Arrival: 11:54 am. Patient came in with pustule marks on lower extremity. Possible allergic reaction to prior medication.’_

“I still don’t fucking like it.”

“Ugh, Connors you need to stop.”

_‘Patient requesting to see specialist. Make a note to pair Doctor Madden’s notes with Doctor Tanaka’s-‘_

“I most certainly do not. Hermosa, you can’t think that this is okay. There’s no way you think this is fucking okay. I mean, if it was the Prince himself, maybe I could stand this kind of treatment. But this is nuts. It’s just some guy. The press is fucking everywhere, you can’t even move around the floor anymore without someone trying fucking ask you something about the _crown prince_. It's ridiculous.”

“Whether or not its ridiculous, the other guy is still sick.” Monica says putting down her patient case form. “Right? He’s sick. And we need to do our fucking job and treat him.”

Connors squirms uncomfortably, arms crossed against his chest. 

"That’s not what I’m complaining about. I get it, his friend is sick. But they completely fucking flipped the whole damn hospital. Everybody is just fucking jumping through hoops for this. They blocked off the whole goddamn back wing for him. That's like 5 rooms that we can’t use because he’s fucking here. What if we need the rooms?”

“Then we’ll figure something out.”

“This is such privileged fucking bullshit. This whole thing. And we fucking had to sign a form so I can’t even fucking talk about. “

_‘Patient also stating brief feeling of numbness around affected area. Follow up on this as treatment proceeds.’_

“You’re talking about it now. “ Monica says, looking up at Connors.

His face is still scrunched up with disdain, skin slightly red.

A clock on the wall ticks quietly above them. 

3 hours until break. 

“Fill out your forms and do what you need to do.” 

_4:45 pm_

_“You didn’t sleep again last night.”_

“I slept enough.”

Monica shifts the phone against her ear, leans back in her chair, and grabs a binder from the nurse’s station desk. There are three patient files she needs to go over and write up before she can leave for the day.

_“You slept maybe 3 hours. That’s not nearly enough.”_

“I’m used to running on less sleep. That’s plenty. And how do you know how much sleep I got? Were you awake? “

_“You’re going to get sick like that.”_

“Really?” Monica says, placing the file down on the table, “ You’re going to tell a nurse that something’s going to make her sick? Really?”

_“You need to sleep! I know you think you’re invincible, but you are not. Regular sleep hours are a good thing! You should know better.”_

“Yes Mom.” She murmurs lightly. As she flips a page of the binder over, two women appear, walking the adjacent hallway. They’re attempting to whisper as they chat in front of the desk. Their attempt is unsuccessful.

“So, wait, you saw him come in?” 

“Yep. Saw him go into one of the administrative offices.”

“What did he look like?”

“Oh a complete wreck. I don’t know who he’s here for, but just off how he looked, it doesn’t look too good.”

“Oh, so its like, someone sick. Aw, that’s not exciting at all. I was hoping it was like something exciting, like a secret pregnancy or something.”

“Like he had knocked someone up? Yeah I was thinking that too. Cuz you figure like, he just picked up and left, so it’s got to be something interesting, right? That would have been so great, if it was like the Prince’s secret pregnant girlfriend.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of disappointed. Can you imagine? But now, I mean, there’s no real scandal. Everyone has sick people. I mean it sucks that they're sick, but come on now, you’re gonna just drop everything for something like that?”

_“Monica? Monica!”_

Rachel’s stern voice stirs her out of the other two girls conversation. The binder is half way folded open. 

“Uh. Yeah sorry got distracted.”

_“You need to sleep.”_

“I’m fine, listen I got to go, I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

_“Yeah ok. Chinese later tonight?”_

Monica looks back to the girls. They’re still attempting to speak in hushed tones, their head bowed, pressed close together. 

It’s a busy hallway, with patients and staff roaming about. They shouldn’t be talking here.

“Yeah sounds good.”

She hangs up and makes her way towards the women.

“Ladies? Hi. Sorry, I’m going to have to ask you to move. You’re standing in a pretty hectic zone. Let me direct you to the cafeteria. 

-  
Day 3- _8 hour shift_

_7:35 am_

_‘New day. New rotation schedule. Patient Name: Rogers, Steven. Room: B62A. Arrival: 12:35 am two days before. Condition, unclear. Physical ailment, undisclosed. Don’t ask questions. Don’t look at him directly. Just do what you need to do and leave.’_

When she approaches the door, its quiet, except for the shrill, insistent beep of the heart monitor, indicating the patient’s life.

It seems loud; too loud for such a quiet room.

Monica puts her hand the doorframe and clears her throat slightly. 

Prince James sits on the edge of the bed, his hand slightly stroking the patient’s hand. 

She’s not sure if he’s heard her, as he doesn’t move away.

His focus is entirely on the patient in the bed.

He brushes his hand against the patient’s head, in a soft, quiet, delicate way and Monica feels something in her ache. 

He leans down to kiss him, once, then twice, whispers something in his ear then turns away. 

She leads him out, and closes the door (quiet, soft, delicate) and turns to face him slightly.

“I won’t say anything.”

He smiles down at her, with a smile that is both appreciative and achingly sad. 

There are lines on his face, shadows under his eyes. He turns and walks away and Monica can’t help herself from thinking that he needs to sleep.

_10:07 pm_

“Long day?”

They’re in bed. The sun is gone and only the light from the bedroom television lights the room. 

“Yeah. Long day.”

Rachel is watching the news, sitting up against the pillows, leaning back in a comfortable way. 

She looks happy. She looks healthy.

She looks safe.

Rachel turns to look at her, face scrunched up in an inquisitive way. 

“What?” she says, tilting her head slightly.

 _‘It could have been like that with us,’_ Monica thinks looking up at Rachel’s face, _‘if things were different. If we were in a different place, a different time. If you were just a person and I had a spot light on my back. If I was no one and you were somebody. That could have been us.’_

She reaches up and touches the side of Rachel’s face.

“I love you.”

Rachel’s hand clasps onto hers and holds it against her face. Still soft. 

“I love you too.” Her eyebrows knit together, concern forming between her brows. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?”

Monica shakes her head slightly and nestles into Rachel’s side, arms wrapping around her waist.

Soft hands run thru her hair as she lays against Rachel’s side, the TV murmuring slightly.

“You can cut your hair, if that’s what you want. You can do whatever you want. I don’t care, as long as you’re here.”

The hands pause for a second, questions lingering at their tips, but she shakes her head again. 

The television anchor voices in her ear, stating that Prince James has returned to his former service post for special training. There is no mention of how he might be feeling, no mention of his lined face and sad eyes. No mention of the man in that hospital bed waiting for him. Nothing. 

The voice drones on and on, but Monica doesn’t hear it, instead focusing on the cadence of Rachel’s heart against her ear, steady and quiet and sure.

She closes her eyes and falls asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to augustbird and amazing fanfic that is Our Golden Age! Without it, this work would not be possible. I was working a bit with the timeline here, based off the chapter. I was assuming Steve's stay in the hospital before Bucky leaves was about three days.
> 
> Hope you like it jenny! And if you don't, I am so sorry hahaha.
> 
> This is un-beta'd so if you see any issues please let me know.
> 
> I am sokovia on tumblr. come say hi to me.


End file.
